PMA: Reaffirming our ambition for a Circular Economy
The Permanent Materials Alliance (PMA) believes that the vision of making the EU the first climate-neutral continent will only be achieved by making a more circular, resource-efficient economy a top policy priority.
The European Council’s 2024-2029 Strategic Agenda and the Political Guidelines of the President of the European Commission set out the vision to deliver climate neutrality and strengthen its competitive advantage in a global economy.
Permanent materials - aluminium, glass and steel - have an important advantage over other packaging materials and already play a critical role in the drive to achieve a more circular economy. A ‘permanent material’ is a material whose inherent properties do not change, regardless of the number of times it goes through a recycling process. Following production, this means that permanent materials can be collected, sorted and processed at the end of their life, to become the raw material for new and endless production loops.
We wish to see a different take on the European Industrial agenda, focusing on circularity to realise the EU’s sustainable development commitments and enhance its strategic autonomy.
A circular, closed material loop, which replaces virgin resources with recycled materials, helps reduce CO2 emissions from aluminium, glass and steel production. To achieve the European Council and European Commissions’ vision of net-zero emissions, we therefore need an integrated policy approach.
Reducing Europe’s dependency on primary resources, achieving material sufficiency, and scaling up collection and sorting infrastructure, will support climate neutrality. Permanent materials will play a critical role in achieving this vision. They need to be anchored as the enabling pillars of an effective Circular Single Market, to end the shortlived, wasteful use of valuable resources. We invite policymakers and all relevant stakeholders to renew the ambition on a circular and low-carbon economy as a top priority during the new policy cycle 2024-2029.
Our two key policy priorities for the next legislative term 2024-2029:
- Shift the EU policy from its waste focus to a resource-based focus
- Implement the EU circular economy legislation effectively